Thursday, May 17, 2007

We've been quite busy this week with odds and ends. My husband went on a three day trip for a Bible Conference a hundred miles away. The girls occupied themselves by getting sick right after he left. They are so sweet and they know how it distresses me to be "home alone" so they decided to give me lots of stuff to do, like cleaning up their beds and dumping buckets. Ryan is back now, and they are getting better. I need to take care to fatten them up, though.

I am amazed by how mooshy a mama's heart can get when those little ones get sick. Did they stay in their comfortable beds? No. Did they lay on the couch where I put their blankets and pillows? No. Did they snuggle down under my covers in my bed? (It's toddler heaven, getting to lay under mom and dad's comforter!) No. The majority of the day, they followed me around with a blanket and pillow, and wherever I was working, they would lay down on their blanket on the linoleum right by my feet. Guess they wanted to be near me. And my heart is one big skooshy puddle. Sigh-I just love them to pieces. Goodnight all! We are gonna get some much needed rest!

Sunday, May 06, 2007

I'm home from church tonight with a sickie. Let's see how well I can make a post with a little snotty grumpster in my lap. Good thing is, most of this was already done! On to something that has helped me more than I can say.

Again, if you are not walking with God every day, these things are just an exercise. But God has provided a way to escape temptation, if we will just avail ourselves of it. See 1 Cor. 10:13. Use the things God says in scripture will help you fight temptation.

1. Pray-cry out, “Lord, help!” Peter had the right idea, when he was in trouble, he knew just what to do. When we fail, we ought to follow his excellent example. David also had the right idea. Psalm 4:1 “Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.“

2. “Lord, I praise your name!” God inhabits the prayers of His people. Psalm 22:3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. (Besides, it bugs the devil!)

3. Scripture. The catch for this one is, you have to have scripture in your mind in order for it to work. God will not pour new revelation into your mind at the time of temptation. But He will use His Word that is there. Say the first verse that comes to mind after calling on the Lord. Even if it is “Jesus wept”. You’d be amazed how appropriate the verse is when you have called on the name of the Lord. He knows just the thing for you.

4. Song. I'm having trouble coming up with just a few verses to show this one. How about, the entire book of Psalms? Just go read it right now and see if that convinces you that people who sang songs to and about God got comfort and strength in their trial and temptation. Or maybe this one from Colossians 3:16 "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." Begin singing your favorite hymn. Or, sing the first one that comes to mind. God invented music, and He made in us a powerful response to it, so be careful to choose music that will strengthen your relationship with God and your understanding of His holiness. Bring into your life music that draws your heart nigh to His in love. Do not underestimate the power of music. Use it for what God made it for!

5. Take yourself away, and I'm not talking about Calgon! Don’t stand there reveling in your victory. If you can, physically move yourself away from the place, the activity, the whatever it is that weakens you, or that can get you when you are weak. In Gen. 40, Joseph runs from Potipher's wife, and the reason he gives is telling, "how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" Do you love God more than these? Get it out of your life altogether if you have to. Matt. 5:29-30

6. Get busy! Do something that God WANTS you to do. Get involved in work, ministry, something that is positive for God.

These things are going to do several things.

--They will make God’s power available to you. You will be intensely appealing to God when casting yourself on Him, praising His name, Using His Word, singing praise to His name, and showing Him that you are so committed to His will that you will do what it takes to remove the temptation. He loves to see that in His children, and loves to help them too.

2. You will draw closer to God. After you are done with all that, you will be able to thank God for the temptation because you have a better relationship with God now than at the beginning-it is glorious how God can use all thing to the good if we love Him! (That sounds good, it must be in the Bible somewhere!)

3. You will make Satan sick. For real. You will weaken him, frighten him, dismay him and discourage him! He will want to get away from you as fast as he can. I am not making this up. It says so in the book. “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” You just have to resist him with God’s tools, not yours.

And remember, the temptation to fight the devil without God’s power is a temptation of the devil in itself. We ought not think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. We do not have much to offer God, but He desires to use us and He can and will. We need Him and He is eager to help us! 1Peter 5:6-7 "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you."

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Most of my blog readers may find the next few posts rudimentary. (That is with the exception of the purse meme, which I will do when I get to my purse, which I believe in on the bottom of the closet. Thanks Jungle Mom, I need to clean it out anyway -both my purse and my closet. I'll post before I do that!) Anyway, the Lord has been speaking to me about the subject of temptation. The vast majority of this comes from some lessons on fighting temptation at my home church, and it has been a blessing to me.

The biggest battle we face, whether pastor's kid, student, teacher, choir member, or missionary, is the battle to walk with God faithfully. Right now my life is full to overflowing with things like diapers, laundry, sharp little toys under my bare feet, the alphabet, and potty training. But if I sweep through, succeeding to my own satisfaction in all of these areas, and do not walk with God, I have missed what I was made for. God may take what I did and do something with it, but He will not flow through it and work out His plan for my life.

Here are some things I have learned about temptation, and I'll make another post about the Biblical way to fight it.

Do fight temptation. Do not ignore it or let it run it’s course in your life. James 1:14-15 “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” Sin will destroy you, and the Bible says that if we resist the devil he will flee. It also commands us to stand. (Eph. 6)

Do not try to fight in the flesh. 2 Corinthians 10:3-4 “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;)” Do not try to go to battle with the force of your will as your ally. You will fail. You will fail. You will fail! Satan has been tempting humans for thousands of years. Do not think he has never seen your kind before. He knew man well in the garden of Eden. He knew man well in Job’s time. Since that time he has escorted millions of souls into hell and destroyed millions of lives God wanted to use. You will not outsmart him, he will outsmart you. You will think you resisted his frontal attack and your heart will slowly fill with contentment and pride. Have I emphasized enough? Do not fight Satan with your hands! You are a lump, he will wipe you out! You need a weapon and God’s power, and it’s waiting for you to use it.

The main thing, and as I said before, the main thing in all of the Christian life is this; Gal 5:16 "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." This is essential. If you do not walk in the Spirit, doing any number of biblical things to avoid temptation will only make you uncomfortable. It will not give you more power. That is because you are in obedience to the flesh, and the flesh WANTS to sin. Let's grow in this grace also!